Focal Point

Dave Droege: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: And I'm just going to tell you this. You're going to play into Satan's hands if you when you hit bad times, difficult times, you're grieving, you're mourning, you're you're frustrated, you're just if you check out from church, you're doing the wrong thing to pull away while I don't feel like going. Well, you need to go. Are you going to your small group? No, I'm not going I don't want to cry through the whole small group. This is when you need your small group more than ever. You get God's comfort when you're with God's people. Just one chapter after he faced down the prophets of Baal, Elijah was running for his life.

And before long, he'd left his servant behind and wandered a full day's journey into the wilderness completely alone. Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez warns that isolation is fertile soil for discouragement. And he presses us to be sure we're right with God before we go looking for his comfort. We're in the opening verses of 2 Corinthians as our series when life beats you up continues with the message called The Basis of Real Comfort. Whatever the world's got to offer when you're down and discouraged is nothing compared to what God offers us in the first 11 verses of 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

Today, I want to get started with the first three verses. That's all we'll get through. But in those first three verses, we've got a lot of the key to what is going to be expanded upon throughout this opening section. And it's all for people that feel discouraged. And if you're not feeling discouraged today, just hang around, right? You you'll be discouraged eventually because everyone gets discouraged. And And there is a great problem that we are all vulnerable to in this sin-laden world is that we're going to we're going to feel bad. So even before we read the first three verses, can you look down to verse number eight in this passage and see that Paul himself, the author of this letter, confesses this.

2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 8. We'll look at this in more detail in the future. But here's what it says. Here's what it says. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength. Now this is the key. We despaired, right? We despaired of life itself. I mean, you know what that spell? That's kind of a poetic way of saying we we don't want to keep living. We didn't want to live anymore. And he goes on to explain it. He He says, Indeed, we felt verse 9 that we'd received the sense of death.

They were not going to make it through all of this. Now Paul admits that he can feel that way just going about his duties. And he's you know, he's a missionary of all things, working for, you know, this Christian missions organization, if you will, right? And he's saying, I I just felt like I wanted to die. I don't want to keep living. So if you come into this room and you say, well, you might have a little pat on the back, some spiritual pat on the back for my you know, my blues on a Monday morning.

This This goes all the way to the core of people saying, I don't want to live anymore. And godly people can feel the way Moses felt that way. Confessed it to God, take my life. Job felt that way, a very godly man, the most godly man in his generation, says, I curse the day I was born. I wish I weren't even born. We see it in Jonah, maybe not the best chapter of his life there in Jonah chapter 4. But he says, God, just kill me. We see that there are godly people, including Paul himself, feeling so disillusioned, so discouraged, so depressed that he feels like I don't even want to keep living.

Well, these first 11 chapters are going to help us sort all that out. Let's start with the first three verses. I'll read it for you. Then we will take it one verse at a time to see if we can get the elements that will be key for us dealing with this in a much better way than you buying a a human-shaped pillow to hang on to at night. Verse 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in that is at Corinth with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia, a very important church in a very important city.

And And he says, I'm writing to this church in the whole of Achaia, people all over the place that come and worship together under the leaders, the pastors at Corinth. And then he gives his traditional salutation in verse 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and here's where the ESV gets this title, and the God of all comfort. So I just want to make this point. Paul is the sent one for much much more than comfort, but he's also coming to comfort the Corinthians.

And anytime someone comes into your life and brings real comfort, they're an instrument of God's comfort. That's what the Bible would teach us. So we are assembling together as a church. It's like Paul, even on his missionary journeys, does not go alone. He goes with people like Timothy that he calls his brother because not because they're biologically related, but because they're tight, they're together. It's always a group effort. Why? One reason is because you shouldn't isolate as Christians. And the more you isolate, right, the more you're vulnerable to the kind of downcast and discouragement that Paul had from time to time when because of circumstances, he was alone.

And that's a problem. You cannot isolate just by the whole introduction in the first verse. I'm reminded that you cannot shut Christians out of your life, so don't do it. Number one on your outline, don't shut Christians out because as soon as you shut Christians out, not only are you vulnerable to discouragement, if you are discouraged, our circumstances make you discouraged, you're going to spiral. And once you write that down, let me prove this to you by going to 1 Kings chapter 19. You can find that of course in your device, just type it in 1 Kings chapter 19.

In 1 Kings chapter 19, I want to prove to you that even godly people can feel like the apostle Paul. But I want to show you some of the contributing factors here. If you know anything about your Old Testament, you might remember 1 Kings chapter 18. And chapter 18 was a high point in the life of a prophet that's always considered a very godly man. And of course he is. His name is Elijah. And Elijah, a very godly man, has just taken down single-handedly as God's representative all the prophets of Baal. And you remember the story.

I hope you remember the story. But what a what a moment. I mean, you want to talk about masculinity, muscular Christianity if you will from our perspective. Man, that was it. He was there facing them down, even mocking the prophets of Baal. And God powerfully vindicates his spokesmanship as a prophet. Amazing. Well, then chapter 19 comes around. And Jezebel, the wonderful, beautiful wife of Ahab, wink wink, Sunday school grads got that, horrible woman, she goes after Elijah. She wants to kill him. So now he's got a bounty on his head and he knows he's a hunted man.

And it says in verse 3, he was afraid. 1 Kings 19, he was afraid. Just like Paul in 2 Corinthians 7, that certainly is part of what it means. I mean, that's part of what leads us to the kinds of discouragement, disillusionment, frustration, the the despondency we can have is its fears on the inside. He was afraid. And he arose and he ran for his life. And he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah. And here's the real big problems. One thing to run for your life when maybe he could have stood up to Jezebel the way he stood up to the prophets of Baal.

But even worse, let's just say we'll give him that. Okay, David ran. I understand that. There's a time maybe to get out of town if you're if your face is on all the wanted posters in town. But here's the big problem. It says in the bottom of verse 3, he left his servant there. Okay, he's he's got he's like Paul with Timothy, but he says, you know, Timothy, why don't you stay here? Verse 4, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. I'm just thinking on foot or maybe he's got an animal. How far can you go in a day into the wilderness?

You can go a long way. You can walk a long way into that California desert in a day. Just think about that. And he's all alone. He came and he sat down by a broom tree, not even a great place to sit down next to you. But I guess if that's all you got, there he is getting a little shade in the heat of of a desert. And then he asked that he might die. There's our hero from chapter 18. Just like to die, please. And he's saying, it is enough now, oh Lord. Take away my life, for I'm no better than my father's.

Now in chapter 18, his father's, if they could watch him show down the prophets of Baal, they'd be like, wow. You know, my great great grandson's quite a guy. But now he's gone, I'm no different than anybody else. God, I'm going to die. The queen of this of this wicked nation in Israel is going to kill me. That's what he's thinking. That's what he's feeling. And what does he want? He's despairing even of life itself. I just want to show you the bottom of verse 3 and the top of verse 4 is he's isolating himself.

And I'm just going to tell you this. You're going to play into Satan's hands if you when you hit bad times, difficult times, you're grieving, you're mourning, you're you're frustrated, you're just if you check out from church. If I see you at the gas station and I say, man, I haven't seen you at church for for months. And you go, yeah, well, that's because I've been going through a really hard time. I 've been really down lately. I'll be going, well, that's great. You should quit church altogether. No. Just the opposite. You 're doing the wrong thing to pull away while I don't feel like going.

Well, you need to go. Are you going to your small group now? I'm not going I don't want to cry through the whole small group. This is when you need your small group more than ever. You need to stop pulling away and isolating yourself unless you want to be like like like Elijah when really you shouldn't be there at all despairing of life. But you're going to despair of life. Just get by yourself. Now is there a time to get away by yourself? Sure there is. Jesus before dawn would go and pray to his father.

But then he'd come down that mountain, he'd face his day. He did that long before dawn. But there's not a time for you to run away. Run away from the instrumentality of God's comfort. You get God's comfort when you're with God's people. And you better not isolate. I I said this two weeks ago. You better commit yourself in this year to be in church. And you not just be shoulder to shoulder, you ought to be face to face in small groups and sub congregations. I'm not doing that just to to boost this this church's numbers.

I'm just telling you need to be in church for your own good. You want to have the comfort of God, experience the father of all mercies and the God of all comfort. You can't pull away when you don't feel like being here. When you don't feel like being here is the time you probably need to be here the most. That's just a general axiom that I I I know is true because I've seen it so many times. And I see people, I'm not coming anymore because I'm down, I lost my job and I'm Okay. Stay away because we're all happy here.

We don't want you don't want we don't want you harshing us all out. Stop. This is where you need to be. You need to be in church. And you know what, I don't think your small group's going to care if you're going to cry the whole time. It's okay and you're not anyway. It's stop being so dramatic. Let's just get with people that love God. And you know what, God will use the instrumentality of Christians to start to comfort you. They will be sent by the will of God into your life. But you got to step into this and you've got to lean into this.

Hurting people, they'll be tempted to isolate. It happens all the time. You isolate yourself, you're in bad shape. Matter of fact, just jot this down for the sake of knowing how bad it can be. Lamentations chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. Lamentations chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. Lamentation should give it give it away. It is bad time in Israel's history. And here's what he says. For these things I weep. He's talked about the destruction of Jerusalem. And my eyes flow with tears. For a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit. Worse was him sitting there, Jeremiah, by himself.

In the next chapter, he talks about people in Jerusalem who are scattered. And he says they stretch out their hands, but there is none to comfort her. The people are are are alone. Being alone is not the place you need to be when you're hurting. And I know you don't feel like having people over. You don't feel like going to your small group. You don't feel like going to church on a Thursday night. You need to get involved. And And by God's grace, a church like ours is open every day of the week. And you need to get involved in one way or another.

And God will start to minister to you, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. And as long as we brought it up, Paul despaired of life, Elijah despaired of life, Moses, Jonah, Job. I just want to address that for a second. Over 5,000 people in California killed themselves. I'm not talking about people that accidentally overdosed. I'm talking about people that intentionally killed themselves. It's growing. In Orange County, the numbers are up by 25%. COVID didn't help, but it's on the rise, people being so despairing that they want to kill themselves. And I just told you Christians are not exempt from feeling that way.

But I just need to tell you you're playing right into the enemy's hands. I quoted this not long ago. John chapter 8 verse 44. And Jesus reminds us that Satan is a murderer. The whole point in the garden in Genesis 3 is to get God to turn on them. God, the author of life, to turn on people. And as as Jesus says, that 's what Satan wants to do. He'd love to have you dead. He'd love to have you dead at your own hand. You cannot play into the hand of the enemy and you will certainly hear that voice, so to speak, when you're alone and isolated.

Do not isolate. One thing I I I I always marvel at is the things that we see in the demoniacs in in the Gospels that that that reflect what's going on in our culture. I I think of Mark chapter 5 verse 5. The The demoniac that's described there was busy cutting himself with stones. Even self-harm, think about this. This is the kind of thing in a social media active culture where people are alone in the corners with their screens. All that isolation is not helpful for us. And what we need to do is to realize the antidote to that is to get together and to be in the physical presence of people, in particular the instruments of God's comfort, which are God's people.

Self-harm or isolation. I I got to read this one to you, the garrison demoniac in Luke 8 verse 29. It says he would break the bonds when they tried to to shackle this guy. And he was driven by the demon into the desert. That's just a great reminder even of looking at Elijah's life and going, I wonder what kind of temptation it was to leave your servant behind and to march into the desert a whole day's journey and sit down by a tree and ask God to kill you. Now you're playing right into the hands.

John 8 44 of the enemy. You're thinking about self-harm, self-hurt, self-demise, and all of that, right? It just comes from the enemy. Enemy likes to isolate you to get you to do the stuff he wants you. Don't isolate. Don't isolate. And don't worry. Bring Bring a box of Kleenex with you if you have to. And you're going to have to come and be a part of the people of God if you want the comfort of God. Verse 2 chapter 1. Let's look at this again. This traditional salutation should all but be traditional in our thinking because it's filled with the core tenants of Christianity.

Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is all applied by the way by the spirit of God, the third person of the Godhead. And I want to tell you this. You need to make sure in your life this is true of you. Everyone's a a participant that's breathing air on this planet this morning of God's common grace. But that's not what Paul has in mind when he talks about grace to you. Grace to you is God's redemptive grace. And that's what defines us as Christians, that we recognize that God has extended grace to us and that we've been granted peace.

Kind of peace are we talking about? That I have peace with God. It starts there. And if I really want peace in my own heart, I want my heart to be encouraged. I like not to be down, depressed, and thinking of my life ending. And I want to think about facing my life with courage and strength. Well, I need to start with, am I really connected to God and have the maximal redemptive grace applied to my life and I really have peace with God. You better figure that out for sure. As a matter of fact, jot this down.

2 Corinthians chapter 13. Paul ends the book this way in verse number 5. He says you ought to examine yourself to see if you're of the faith. After all of this instruction, he says, I wonder what you're going to do with everything I taught. Well, I know this. You're not going to do much with it if you haven't made sure that you're in in the faith. Examine yourself to see if you're in the faith. And see if you if you pass the test, you'll know Christ is in you. If you fail the test, well, then you'll know Christ is not in you.

How in the world are you going to have the comfort of God if you don't even have the right relationship with God? Number two, just jot it down this way. You need to make sure you're right with God. And just because you're in church on a Sunday morning does not mean you're right with God. You know that, right? Matter of fact, I know many of you would even confess, I don't mind going to church, right? But I don't really want to be submitted to God. I I'm not going to submit to him. Even the word submission people struggle with.

But here's the thing. We have no trouble with that if we're truly converted. If you know what the grace of God is, you have no problem saying he's not only my redeemer, but he's also my king. You have no problem with that. Let me show you. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 reminds us of what the grace of God is all about. As a matter of fact, the thing you're going to be most enamored with in eternity according to this passage is his glorious grace. Look at verse 6. We'll deal with the stumbling block of verse 5 for many of you.

But look at verse 6. You shouldn't stumble over verse 5, but we'll we'll leave that for a second. And in verse 6 says all of this is to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. You can't do this without Christ. The beloved in the beloved is his son Christ. And just because you think, wow, the Muslims are monotheistic, they're all praying to the same God. If you don't honor the son the way you honor the father, well, then you don't have the grace of God. And there's all there's only one name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

And it ain't going to work in Buddhism or Hinduism. And if you think that's arrogant to say it, I didn't say it. The Bible says it and it's the only book God ever wrote. We should listen to what he says. You need to be right with the living God by knowing that the only way you're going to get the redemptive grace of God is through his beloved son. As a matter of fact, keep reading. In him verse 7 we've redemption through his death. And there are people in platforms all over Southern California today saying this is not how you get the grace of God.

They're saying that the whole concept of the father crushing his own son is is not at all what is found in the Bible. They call that cosmic child abuse. You can't tell me that your salvation rests on the father murdering his own son. And I'm saying this exactly what the Bible says. His blood on the cross dying on that cross is the whole foundation of my redemption. Redemption's a good word. I'm purchased out of the problem that I'm in. And the problem is the wages of sin. I'm a sinner. And because of that, here's the law, the law of sin and death.

There's the connection. And I can't separate death from sin. But here's the thing that can separate it, the death of Christ on a cross. And according to Isaiah 53, it is the father who was pleased to crush the son, putting him to death that he might offer his soul as a guilt offering. And that is a bloody sacrifice. And it is the father bringing that about on his son. Of course the Jews were involved. Of course the Gentiles and the Romans were involved. Of course he was he was executed on a Roman execution rack. Yes, that's true.

But this was all orchestrated as it was preached in the book of Acts according to the predetermined plan of God. And the whole point of you being redeemed is based on Christ dying for you. And if you understand that, that that is all about the grace of God, the glorious grace of God, that starts like that hymn, John Newton's hymn, that you're going to say, I know I'm a wretch before God. And that's what makes his grace so amazing. And if you don't see grace as amazing, most people can't sing that song and mean it because they don't think they're a wretch.

They may think they're a sinner, but then they shrug their shoulders. Well, everyone's a sinner. Nobody's perfect. But those of us that know the amazing grace of God, it's been extended to us. And we realize it for what it is. We know we need punishment for our sin, but we don't want to have it. None of us wants to have it. But by the blood of Christ on the cross, I've been redeemed. I've been taken out of my bad situation and been made a child of God. Look at it. He lavished it on us verse number 8 in all wisdom and insight.

He knew all about me. He knew all about his plan, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in his son in the Messiah in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time. They looked forward to it in the Old Testament. We 2,000 years later look back to it, a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and on earth. In him we've obtained an inheritance. I know I am right with the living God because of the death of Christ on the cross and my trust in it, having been predestined.

I know that's a scary word for you according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will. The reason that's not a problem for you if you understand the amazing grace of God is because verse 13 has been your real-time experience. And And we don't deny that. Verse 13 in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, the good news of you being saved and believed in him, then you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. That picture of you in real time hearing a message and rightly responding to it is absolutely real.

That's a real thing. But when you grab on to the grace of God, you look back on it and have no problem saying, well, I couldn't do this about God. I mean, you see that from chapter 2 in in Ephesians. We were dead in our transgressions and sins. So you can stumble over being called before the foundation of the world, being predestined for adoption as sons as verse 5 says. But real understanding of the grace of God extended to you is something first of all we in real time experience, we reach out to and respond to a message.

That's a real decision that you make. And yet the reality is once you make the decision, you can look back and you say, that's amazing. I couldn't made it without God. And God is the one who gets all glory for this. God gets all the credit for this. And that may bother you, but let's deal with that sermon another time. Right now all I'm saying is I hope that you've experienced that grace so that you can say, I know I am now sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, the guarantee of our inheritance, not my righteousness, not my good deeds, but the guarantee of our inheritance is the spirit of God, the act of redemption until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

What kind of glory? We already know this from verse 6, the glorious grace of God.

Dave Droege: This is Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez. And a message from 2 Corinthians chapter 1 called The Basis of Real Comfort. If someone you love has been keeping to themselves lately, this might be the message to send their way. It's waiting for you anytime at focalpointradio.org or keep the entire series in your pocket through the free Focal Point app. When life hurts, people need more than somebody's opinion. They need the comfort, clarity, and hope that come from God's word. That's why this month we're offering a book called Psalms of Trust, Living with Confidence in God at all times by Pastor HB Charles Jr.

He takes 10 well-loved psalms, including Psalms 23, 46, and 121 and works through each one from beginning to end instead of plucking out a favorite line or two. And here's what those 10 have in common. Not one of them was written on an easy afternoon. Each comes from someone in real trouble who chose to trust God anyway. Request your copy of Psalms of Trust this month when you give a gift to Focal Point. Call 888-320-5885 or give online at focalpointradio.org. Rather send a check, our mailing address is Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

People in painful seasons find this teaching because other listeners decided to keep it on the air. Monthly gifts matter most of all because steady support lets us plan ahead and keep scripture-centered answers available for anyone facing grief, fear, or uncertainty on the radio, online, and through Ask Pastor Mike Live. That kind of consistency only happens when people like you commit to it. Become a Focal Point partner today at focalpointradio.org or call us at 888-320-5885. Is this your first time with us? Well, we'd like to mail you a free booklet from Pastor Mike called Seeking Comfort, drawn straight from the message you just heard.

Request it at focalpointradio.org or by phone at 888-320-5885. I'm Dave Droege. Tomorrow Pastor Mike finishes The Basis of Real Comfort. So come back Tuesday for more Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God's word promises it'll never return void. So I wonder how is God's word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line. Let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org and then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of scripture. We'll see you then.

Dave Droege: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.